HMCS IROQUOIS

Caution: This article contains dated, biased and/or racist language. 

HMCS IROQUOIS 1 was the first “Tribal” Class destroyer to commission in the
Royal Canadian Navy and her arrival marked a new departure in naval warfare for the
rapidly expanding Canadian navy. As far back as the dark days of 1940, 2 when the
RCN comprised little more than a scant force of some six pre-war “River” Class
destroyers, and even before the first stalwart corvette had made her way to sea,
Canadian naval planners were beginning to think in terms of an offensive strategy which
would carry Canada’s war at sea to the very doorstep of the enemy. Aggressively
armed, the Tribals were designed as hard-hitting, swift-moving ships of war which would
operate with the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet destroyers in the North Atlantic and in the
danger-studded waters about the British Isles.
IROQUOIS’ keel was laid down in the Vickers-Armstrongs Yard at Newcastle-on-
Tyne on 19 September, 1940. The following year, on 23 September, she was launched
by Mrs Vincent Massey, wife of the High Commissioner for Canada. A disappointing
series of delays, occasioned by the shortages of material and labour in beleaguered
Britain, postponed her eventual commissioning date for still another year. The main
body of IROQUOIS’ company began to arrive in the United Kingdom in October 1942
and were accommodated in HMCS NIOBE. Courses were arranged at RN
establishments for a large proportion of the personnel, since many of them had had little
or no previous experience in destroyers.
On Monday, 30 November 1942, at Newcastle, under the command of
Commander W.B.L. Holms, RCN, and with the Naval Chaplain on the staff of the Flag
Officer-in-Charge, Tyne, officiating, IROQUOIS was commissioned in the RCN.
IROQUOIS passed the first nine days of December 1942 storing ship and
carrying out preliminary power trials. On 11 December the destroyer proceeded from
Methil on the Firth of Forth for the windswept Royal Navy anchorage at Scapa Flow,
“where all seems devised for the welfare of ships and the discomfort of men”. Upon
arrival, 12 December, IROQUOIS came under the administration of the Rear-Admiral
(Destroyers) Home Fleet for working-up exercises. During “work-ups” in the turbulent
winter waters off the Orkneys, weaknesses in IROQUOIS’ hull structure began to
appear. On 29 January the destroyer returned to North Shields on the Tyne where four
weeks were required to make good the damage and install additional stiffenings.
Work was completed by 24 February 1943 and IROQUOIS shaped course for
Londonderry whence she sailed independently to Halifax for examination by dockyard
and building officials who were to begin construction of Tribal destroyers in Canada.
Unfortunately, the ship had run into heavy weather off the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland and upon her arrival in Halifax on 6 March it was again found necessary
to dock the ship for repairs.

Many of the difficulties which had plagued IROQUOIS during her long and
tedious “work-up” resulted from the fact that since the original tribal structure had been
developed by the Admiralty, a vast amount of new equipment and armament had been
added and the ship’s hull had not the strength to carry it. It was not until IROQUOIS
had been adequately strengthened that this trouble was finally overcome. The RCN
Tribals which were later built in Canada were stiffened during construction. But
IROQUOIS, Canadian pioneer in the “Tribal” Class of destroyer, was to experience to
the hilt all the frustrations, set-backs and tribulations which accompany inevitably the
adoption of a new class of warship.
At noon on 15 March, IROQUOIS left Halifax for the return voyage to Britain,
stopping en route for a brief call at St. John’s, Newfoundland. Shortly after proceeding
out to sea, on 19 March, the destroyer ran into a severe north-westerly gale. At the
height of the storm, two of IROQUOIS’ men, attempting to go to the aid of an injured
shipmate, were washed overboard and lost.
Arriving back at Scapa on 24 March, IROQUOIS was allocated for service with
the Home Fleet and the next three weeks were taken up with exercises in northern
waters. During the latter part of April 1943, IROQUOIS was employed on close escort
duty with such mighty warships of the British navy as the battleships King George V and
Malaya. While in company with the latter, on 24 April, IROQUOIS ran into her old
bugbear, heavy weather, sustaining damage which put her back into dry dock again,
this time at Devonport. During her period in dry dock, the severely-tried destroyer was
subjected to still further damage when an RAF barrage balloon, which had broken from
its mooring during a gale, landed on the ship just abaft the after-funnel carrying away
the wireless antenna.
On 3 June IROQUOIS became operational again and, having been transferred to
the Plymouth Command, proceeded to sea in company with the Polish destroyer Orkan
and HMS Wensleydale to provide an anti-submarine escort for the RN battleship
Ramillies bound for the Clyde. The remainder of the month passed in a busy round of
activity, escorting Gibraltar-bound convoys out to sea and returning with incoming ones.
On 9 July 1943, IROQUOIS sailed as part of the escort for the liners California,
Duchess of York and Port Fairy, bound from Britain to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where
the transports were to embark troops for service in the Middle East.
Towards evening on 11 July, the convoy and its escorts were steaming a zig-zag
course some 300 miles west of Vigo, Spain, in calm, cloudless weather. At 2035 an
enemy plane was sighted, shadowing the convoy and hovering just out of gun range.
Half an hour later it was joined by two more Focke-Wulfs and shortly afterwards the
planes came in to the attack, down sun, from the north-west. The aircraft concentrated
their attacks on the troop transports California and Duchess of York which were shortly
mortally ablaze. IROQUOIS was singled out for attack at 2136 but a heavy barrage
from her 4” high angle guns and multiple pom-pom forced the plane to alter sharply
away. Three minutes later another Focke-Wulf came in for a second attack on

IROQUOIS. Her Captain ordered “full ahead” and violent avoiding action was taken; the
bombs fell harmlessly astern. The enemy then withdrew eastwards leaving the escort
(two destroyers and a frigate) to carry out the difficult and arduous task of rescuing
survivors. Submarines were known to be in the vicinity and at first IROQUOIS, then the
RN frigate Swale, who joined the group from Gibraltar, carried out an anti-submarine
sweep during the rescue operation. Together the escorts succeeded in picking up
some 1880 survivors, 660 being accommodated in IROQUOIS. The ship’s company
performed throughout the ordeal with great skill and determination; many feats of
gallantry and devotion to duty were noted by the Commanding Officer. At 0135 on the
12 th , having given orders to Moyala to sink the hulks of the Duchess of York and
California with torpedoes, IROQUOIS shaped course for Casablanca where the
survivors (some of them seriously wounded) were disembarked. Commander Holms
and two of IROQUOIS’ crew were afterwards presented with the Czechoslovak Military
Cross for rescuing nine Czechoslovak officers borne in the troop ships.
Before she left Casablanca, the destroyer embarked one German officer and five
ratings to be landed in the United Kingdom. These prisoners were survivors of U-506, a
740-ton enemy submarine which had been sunk on 12 July 1943 by a US Liberator
aircraft operating from the Gibraltar area. They had been picked up by HM Destroyer
Hurricane and conveyed to Casablanca. It is interesting to note that their Commanding
Officer, who did not survive the sinking, had claimed to have sunk, during the three
patrols he did in the submarine, seventeen ships, totalling in all 99,961 tons. 3
IROQUOIS, on the evening of 19 July, proceeded to sea in company with her sister ship
HMCS ATHABASKAN and the Polish destroyer Orkan, with orders to carry out a sweep
against enemy submarines and shipping in the Bay of Biscay. The group patrolled in
the “Musketry” 4 area of the bay. At 2225 the 21 st , IROQUOIS sighted a Spanish fishing
vessel to the eastward, the Monolo of Corunna, and, on being instructed to sink her, did
so after embarking her crew of fourteen. At 0827 the following morning, IROQUOIS
sighted and sank another, the Isolina Costade, while a third, the Vivero, fell a victim to
Orkan’s guns. These vessels were sunk in an area which had been prohibited to them
by Admiralty several months before because there was good reason to believe that they
were less interested in fishing than in the more profitable occupation of spying. In the
southern Bay of Biscay approaches, where British shipping movements were important,
there was ample opportunity for it. Warnings had been issued repeatedly by broadcasts
and leaflets dropped by aircraft, as well as by intercepting British warships. This was
the first action taken against them to enforce the orders.
Westward of the area about fifteen more fishing vessels were sighted spread
over a large area. As they were not in a position likely to prejudice the success of the
operation, they were not molested.
The following day Orkan fired on a lurking Focke-Wulf 200 aircraft and drove it
off.
On the afternoon of the 24 th , the group were directed by a Sunderland to a
position where they found a raft containing five survivors of U-558 which had been sunk

by aircraft on the 20 th . Dead bodies in life-belts were also seen in the area. During the
early morning of the 25 th , survivors of U-459, sunk by the RAF, were rescued. These
were made up of five officers and thirty-two men. Survivors of a Wellington aircraft
which had been shot down during the action against this submarine, were also sought
by the group. IROQUOIS, some three miles from Orkan found the aircraft’s dinghy. In
it was the tail-gunner, but four other reported survivors were not seen. 5
Upon completion of this mission with the Plymouth Command, IROQUOIS was
despatched northwards to rejoin the Home Fleet. Her arrival at Scapa was delayed,
however, due to another period in dock, this time to repair damage sustained while in
collision on 28 July with the trawler Kingston Beryl in the Irish Sea. Arriving at Scapa on
26 August, IROQUOIS was assigned to the desolate “Murmansk Run”, the treacherous
route to North Russia, where bitterly needed supplies for the hard pressed Russian front
were convoyed through waters daily searched by Nazi U-boats and aircraft and
menaced by German battleships and cruisers.
IROQUOIS’ first assignment (Operation “Holder”) into Arctic waters was not,
however, carried out as convoy escort but as part of a special naval force despatched to
North Russia with vital war supplies, a number of important passengers and mail for
British personnel at Polyarnoe, North Russia. The destroyers IROQUOIS and HURON
with HMS Onslaught, left Scapa on 1 October for Skaalefiord in the Faeroes, where,
after refuelling, they shaped course for Kola Inlet. The destroyers arrived at Murmansk
at 0200 on 6 October and, after speedily disembarking passengers and cargo, sailed
again at 2215 on the same day, carrying with them several members of the Russian
diplomatic corps.
Back in port only two days, IROQUOIS was sent out again to take part in
operation “F.Q.”. This operation was designed to carry relief personnel and stores to
the garrison at Spitzbergen and it was timed to coincide with operation “F.R.” (the
passage of a number of Russian minesweepers and small A/S vessels to Murmansk) so
that the heavy covering naval force would be available for both operations. IROQUOIS,
with HMCS HAIDA, HM Ships Vigilant, Janus, Hardy and USS Corry, formed the
destroyer screen for the British battleship Anson, the fleet carrier USS Ranger and the
cruiser HMS Norfolk, which comprised the support force.
On 27 October IROQUOIS was ordered to the Clyde to pick up the destroyer
depot ship HMS Tyne and escort her back to Scapa. After her arrival back at base on
the 30 th , IROQUOIS lay alongside Tyne until 5 November cleaning boilers.
In operation “F.T.” which occupied the next three weeks, IROQUOIS, with her
sister Tribals HAIDA and HURON, formed part of the destroyer flotilla under HMS
Onslow assigned to escort convoy JW-54A to Russia and convoy RA-54B on the return
journey. The convoys to North Russia had been discontinued during the summer
months of 1943 and JW-54A was the first one to sail when they were resumed in
November of that year.

JW-54A, consisting of 19 merchant ships, left Loch Ewe on 15 November. Its
progress was impeded by a north-westerly gale on the first day out and though U-boats
were known to be in the vicinity, all ships arrived safely. 6 On 26 November IROQUOIS
was alongside at Polyarnoe, when a Russian submarine, returning to her base at the
end of a 21-day patrol, entered the harbour firing a salute of four guns. The Admiral in
charge explained to the curious Canadians that this salute was to indicate that the
submarine had been successful in sinking four enemy ships. In keeping with a Northern
Fleet custom, the Admiral further elaborated, four pigs and a liberal amount of vodka
would be immediately bestowed upon the submarine’s crew.
On Christmas Day, 1943, the four Canadian Tribals were at sea escorting
convoys on the “Murmansk Run”. ATHABASKAN was part of the close escort for RA-
55A, returning from Kola Inlet to Britain and IROQUOIS, HAIDA and HURON were on
escort duty with JW-55B, the third convoy in the new series destined for Russia and the
fateful convoy which was to lure the Scharnhorst to her destruction.
Unhappily for Grand Admiral Doenitz, Commander-in-Chief of the German navy,
who reasoned that since two convoys had already passed unmolested by German
forces, the enemy would probably be less prepared for trouble, a heavy British battle
fleet had put to sea to reinforce the passage of north-bound JW-55B and home-bound
RA-55A. Ironically enough, the suspicions of the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet,
flying his flag in the battleship HMS Duke of York, had been aroused by the very ruse
which the enemy had employed to trap them. On 23 December Force 1, comprising the
RN cruisers Belfast, 7 Norfolk (who had stalked the Bismarck to her doom) and Sheffield
had steamed down the Norwegian coast from Kola Inlet in the event the Scharnhorst,
hidden in her anchorage at Altenfiord, might be tempted to come out.
At 2300 on the same day, Force 2 8 steamed out of Akureyri, Iceland, ready to do
battle if the German raider should put to sea. The Scharnhorst, blithely unaware that
any capital ships were in the area, departed Altenfiord escorted by the German 4 th
Destroyer Flotilla at 1900 on 25 December. It was to be her last sortie into the North
Atlantic.
During the next twenty-four hours Scharnhorst twice attempted to close convoy
JW-55B and twice was driven off by the accurate gun-fire of the British cruisers in Force
1. From their station as close escort for the merchant ships the Canadian tribals
watched with understandable concern the glow of the fire-works over the horizon. At
this point HMS Onslow, Senior Officer of the convoy escort, passed the code word
“Strike” – the order for the destroyers to form up on their divisional leaders for a torpedo
attack. This order was cancelled shortly afterwards when the Scharnhorst retired.
Despite the fact that the German battle cruiser possessed fire power far superior to the
British cruisers present, (who endeavoured to hold Scharnhorst until the Duke of York,
hurrying up from the south-west, could engage her) the Nazi warship chose to rely on
her superior speed and fled. Not, however, that the Scharnhorst was in any way lacking
in gallantry. As the only capital ship in northern waters in operational readiness, she
was under orders from Doenitz not to risk destruction in a duel with heavy ships. When

the superior guns of the Duke of York finally caught and crippled her, Scharnhorst went
down, about 60 miles north-east of Norway’s North Cape, with her colours flying and all
guns that had not been disabled still firing.
The convoy, meanwhile, proceeded on its way. Constantly shadowed by both
German U-boats and aircraft, the merchant ships were all brought safely into Kola Inlet
on 29 December.
As the year 1943 drew to a close, IROQUOIS could look back on the first six
months of her operational career with a feeling of satisfaction. Her ship’s company was
surely and firmly welding the destroyer into a first class fighting ship. 9 But IROQUOIS’
severest tests and greatest triumphs were to come in 1944 – the year of the invasion,
when the destroyer, in company with other Allied warships was to distinguish herself in
a series of night actions off the French coast particularly in the Bay of Biscay.
IROQUOIS arrived back at Scapa, after an uneventful return voyage with RA-
55B, on 8 January. Shortly afterwards she was transferred, along with HAIDA, to the
Plymouth Command in order to strengthen the naval forces pressing home the attack
against enemy shipping along the French coast and to establish a firm control of the
entire Channel area in readiness for the grand assault in June 1944.
From the 4 th to the 13 th of February, IROQUOIS, together with HAIDA and
ATHABASKAN, was recalled for duty with the Home Fleet to take part in operation
“Posthorn”. This was planned as an air strike from the carrier HMS Furious 10 against
enemy shipping in the shoal-studded waters between Stadlandet and Ytteröerne on the
Norwegian coast. The German coast-wise traffic off Norway was of great importance to
the enemy’s hold on the northern areas of that country for it was the primary means of
communication with the remote Nazi garrisons stationed there.
The three Canadian Tribals formed part of the destroyer screen for the heavy
support force consisting of the battleships HMS Anson and FS Richelieu and the RN
cruisers Belfast and Nigeria. 11
The hunt for enemy shipping, however, did not prove very fruitful and, no worth-
while targets being encountered by the aircraft, an attack was carried out on an
alternate objective, the beached SS Emsland. A merchant ship of 5,200 tons, the
Emsland had been damaged earlier by aircraft of the Coastal Command and was now
undergoing repairs. An attack was successfully carried out and the battle force returned
to Scapa on 12 February. None of the surface ships saw any action throughout this
operation.
On 18 February 1944 IROQUOIS departed Plymouth for Halifax where she was
to go into refit. While on passage, some 250 miles off the French coast, IROQUOIS’
asdic operator gave the alert that torpedoes were approaching on the starboard bow.
The destroyer was successfully manoeuvred to comb the tracks of the torpedoes,
believed to be “gnats”, 12 fired from a submerged U-boat.

After a brief stop-over at Horta in the Azores, IROQUOIS arrived in Canada on
26 February 1944. A refit began in Halifax which lasted until 28 May. On 1 June she
sailed for Liverpool via St. John’s, Newfoundland. She arrived back in England on 8
June, two days after D-Day, when the eyes of a tense world watched with hope and with
prayer as the Allied forces of liberation challenged Hitler’s Panzer divisions on the
blood-stained beaches of Normandy.
To IROQUOIS’ crew, secured alongside at Liverpool, undergoing intensive
courses in harbour training while new radar equipment was being installed, it must have
proved a frustrating time indeed. But plenty of action awaited her return to the Plymouth
Command and IROQUOIS’ company would have many occasions to sing the praises of
her new radar equipment.
On 1 August 1944 IROQUOIS sailed to rejoin the 10 th Destroyer Flotilla at
Plymouth. During this month the ship really hit her stride and her Commanding Officer,
Commander J. C. Hibbard, DSC, RCN, noted with pride in his report for August that:

“August 1944 has been HMCS IROQUOIS’ best
month since commissioning. The ship steamed a
total of 9,750 miles and spent 28 days at sea
carrying out anti-shipping patrols off the French
coast. Most of this time was spent within sight of the
French coast, and the majority of the nights at sea
ship’s company was closed up at Action Stations”.
IROQUOIS’ first operational assignment after her refit was a series of sweeps in
operation “Kinetic” 13 designed to destroy enemy shipping along the French coast. Early
in July it had become apparent that Germany meant to hold on to the west coast ports
along the Bay of Biscay as long as possible. La Rochelle, La Pallice, St. Nazaire,
Lorient and Brest, although no longer effective U-boat bases, since the Nazis had
begun withdrawing their submarines northwards to Norway, were still held by large
German garrisons which denied the Allies the use of these ports and harassed naval
operations in the area. Isolated by land, these garrisons continued to be slenderly fed
by sea, and operation “Kinetic” was designed with the object of permanently breaking
up their coastal supply links. Small merchant vessels, heavily protected by armed
trawlers, converted minesweepers, and occasionally by destroyers, crawled up and
down the coast in short hops by night, under cover of shore batteries and with the
added protection that the mined and rocky shoal waters gave to them. Even
discounting the danger of air attack from nearby air-fields, it was not a healthy place for
Allied cruisers and destroyers.
Force 26, consisting of the British cruiser Bellona (Senior Officer), the RN
destroyers Tartar and Ashanti and the Canadian tribals HAIDA and IROQUOIS, was
sweeping near Ile d’Yeu in the Bay of Biscay on the night of 5 August when radar
echoes of an enemy convoy working slowly to seaward of Ile d’Yeu were picked up.

The British-Canadian force held their fire until the moment when they could cut in
between the enemy and the land, and at 0034 on the 6 th the order was given to move in
and engage the enemy. When the action was broken off two hours later, the convoy
and its escort, believed to have totalled 8 or 9 ships, had gone down to almost total
destruction.
IROQUOIS’ Commanding Officer noted later in his account of the action that:
“A young and inexperienced ship’s company went
through their baptism of fire showing most
commendable steadiness such that the greatest
possible use was made of the opportunity presented
to achieve the object of destroying enemy ships.”
Survivors of the action who later were picked up stated that eight or nine hundred
special troops who were being evacuated in the coasters had gone down with their
ships. None of the Allied ships sustained any hits, but an unfortunate accident in
HAIDA, when a shell exploded upon entering the breach of one of her after guns, killed
two of her gunners and wounded eight more.
However, the damage to HAIDA was not crippling and Force 26 regrouped and
went into attack a second enemy convoy at 0335. The results of the second action
were inconclusive although some damage was believed to have been inflicted and the
convoy forced to put back to port. At 0630, with daylight approaching, Force 26 was
ordered by Commander-in-Chief Plymouth to return to harbour. As the group altered to
the westward to comply, IROQUOIS was detached to reinforce EG-2 and EG-11, 14
“hunter-killer” groups which were engaged in tracking down U-boats in the English
Channel. At 1611 on 6 August, while IROQUOIS was patrolling in line abreast with the
2 nd Escort Group, HMS Loch Killin destroyed U-736 in a brief single-handed attack with
her newly fitted Squid. 15 Three officers and sixteen ratings from this U-boat were picked
up and transferred to HMCS KOOTENAY for passage to Plymouth. 16
On the night of 14/15 August 1944, IROQUOIS took part in another operation
against enemy shipping in the approaches to La Rochelle. On this occasion IROQUOIS
formed part of Force 27 with the British cruiser Mauritius (Senior Officer), and the
destroyer HMS Ursa.
A small enemy convoy rounding Les Sables d’Olonne on a southerly course was
engaged at 0305 on the 15 th . In the brilliant bursts of Force 27’s star-shell, the enemy
was revealed as two merchant vessels and an Elbing destroyer. At once, the destroyer
turned to cover the convoy with smoke, at the same time firing a broadside of
torpedoes. All torpedoes passed harmlessly ahead of IROQUOIS. Immediately
afterwards, shore batteries on Les Sables d’Olonne and Ile de Ré opened a hot and
heavy barrage of fire against the Force. The fire was uncomfortably accurate, but by
good fortune all of the Allied ships escaped damage. At the end of the engagement the

two merchant ships were burning fiercely but the destroyer, having suffered a number of
hits, escaped at high speed.
At 0335 the Force was reformed and a northerly course resumed. An hour later,
IROQUOIS’ radar (which performed with remarkable efficiency during these operations)
picked up another contact at six miles. This proved to be a small tanker which was
repeatedly hit by all three ships until it had run itself aground. Towards morning, at
0620, a convoy of several ships crawling down the coast east of Ile d’Yeu was engaged
by the destroyers, the shoal waters being too treacherous in which to risk the cruiser.
The enemy, believed to consist of two merchant ships escorted by two “M” Class
minesweepers, returned the fire with much spirit. The enemy ships, however, were
quickly silenced and, as Force 27 withdrew, the ships, burning heavily, had beached
themselves. At 1015 on 16 August the Force shaped course to return to Plymouth,
well-pleased with the results of their patrol:

2 medium merchant vessels set on fire, beached and
destroyed.
1 small tanker beached and destroyed.
2 “M” Class minesweepers destroyed.
1 small merchant vessel or “M” Class minesweeper
set on fire and damaged.
1 “Elbing” destroyer damaged, but escaped, no other
vessels escaped. 17
The following week, on the night of 22/23 August, IROQUOIS took part in her
final assignment with operation “Kinetic”. Again with Mauritius and Ursa in Force 27,
IROQUOIS sailed from Plymouth at 1630 on 20 August with orders to carry out an
offensive patrol in the Bay of Biscay. Throughout the morning of 21 August the Force
patrolled in the vicinity of Ile d’Yeu and in the afternoon proceeded into the area near
Les Sables d’Olonne to confirm the results of the previous week’s action.
The patrol throughout the next two days was quiet except for a brief burst of fire
from the battery in the approaches to the Gironde River which straddled both
IROQUOIS and Mauritius on the morning of 22 August. Towards evening the Force
turned in towards Audierne Bay, the only area where enemy forces proceeding from
Brest to Lorient could be intercepted with some measure of sea-room.
At 0117 on the 23 rd , IROQUOIS obtained a contact close inshore off Pointe du
Raz. Force 27 stood out to sea for a tantalizing 20 minutes to let the enemy get well out
into the bay. IROQUOIS was then ordered to lead the ships in, in line ahead, followed
by Ursa and Mauritius. Fire was opened at 0209 at a range of 4,000 yards. Star-shell
illumination revealed an enemy convoy of two armed merchant ships, one “M” Class
minesweeper and a flak ship.
According to Mauritius’ account of the action:

“The enemy immediately made smoke and turned to
give an end-on target, returning Force 27’s fire with
spirit. The shore battery at Audierne joined in, but on
the whole their fire was ragged and inaccurate. One
medium sized merchant ship was hit almost
immediately by Mauritius, blew up and sank at once.
The remaining three ships were repeatedly hit, one
trawler being driven aground on fire in the entrance
to Port Audierne. The second merchant ship was set
heavily on fire and sank close westward of the reef
off Port Audierne. The minesweeper was stopped,
damaged and aground, not many hundred yards
from the place Captain Pellew, with two frigates in
1797 drove the French 80-gun Ship-of-the-Line
Droits de L’Homme ashore, causing over 1,000
French sailors and soldiers to perish.” 18
Forty minutes later the destroyers formed astern of Mauritius and altered course
to the south-west to search for any other convoy which might be attempting to cross the
Bay of Biscay. At 0336 IROQUOIS’ radar again picked up a firm contact moving on a
south-easterly course. Again the Canadian destroyer was ordered to lead the Force in
to intercept. Fire was opened fifteen minutes later against an enemy force of two armed
trawlers, one minesweeper and one sperrbrecher. 19 By 0455 the entire enemy force
had been destroyed. A boarding party from Ursa was later sent aboard the
minesweeper aground on the shoal off Port Audierne. Eleven prisoners were taken
along with various charts and documents. It was afterwards learned from the French
Forces of the Interior at Penmarch that some 150 Germans fleeing from the burning
ships had been captured by them. It was a good night’s hunting and when the final tally
was made the score stood at: five armed trawlers, one sperrbrecher, one coaster and
one flak ship sunk. 20
IROQUOIS’ activities off the coast of France during the last week of August 1944
constituted a relatively peaceful assignment. She was ordered to patrol in the Bay of
Biscay and to land armed parties at various points along the coast and outlying islands.
Where the Resistance Forces (FFI) were strong, she was to establish liaison with the
leaders of the underground and gather intelligence information.
On the afternoon of 26 August, a party of four from IROQUOIS equipped with a
portable W/T set disembarked and went ashore at Port Joinville on Ile d’Yeu. The day
previous, the last of the German garrison had evacuated the island, taking with them the
Mayor and nineteen citizens for having weapons in their possession. Also, prior to their
departure, they had looted the local post office and wrecked all radar equipment on the
island, as well as the lighthouse, which was the third largest in France.
IROQUOIS’ men received a hearty reception from the FFI 21 and the 4,000 French
civilians on the island. The local population, anxious to show their pleasure, not only

co-operated to the full, but, with the last of their remaining store of food, entertained the
group at a party. There was a festive note in the air and Frenchmen everywhere were
eager to celebrate an occasion dear to their hearts. On this day, 26 August 1944,
General De Gaulle had made his triumphant entry down the Champs Elysées to mark
the formal liberation of Paris.
On the 27 th and 28 th of August IROQUOIS carried out similar landings at St.
Guenole on the Penmarch Peninsula where the FFI were very active. The landing
parties returned to the ship with valuable information concerning enemy movements,
the positions of shore batteries and the extent of mining in coastal waters.
IROQUOIS’ routine of watch-keeping off the Biscay coast was broken early in
September when the destroyer was detached on a special assignment, (Operation
“Octagon”), to act as destroyer escort, as far as the Azores, for the SS Queen Mary
bound for Canada. Among her valuable cargo of passengers the liner carried Prime
Minister Churchill, on his way to meet President Roosevelt for their second historic
meeting at Quebec.
Upon her return at Plymouth, IROQUOIS was taken in hand for boiler cleaning
prior to her return to the Biscay area.
A final assignment to land armed parties at Les Sables d’Olonne on the 23 rd and
30 th September 1944 completed IROQUOIS’ operations in the Biscay area. On the 16
October she departed Plymouth, detached from the 10 th Destroyer Flotilla and
temporarily transferred to the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow.
Three weeks later, on 6 November, IROQUOIS was back under the operational
control of Commander-in-Chief Plymouth where she remained until the middle of March
1945. Throughout this period the destroyer operated on detached duty as close escort
for capital ships and troop transports in the dangerous coastal waters off the British
Isles where schnorkel-equipped U-boats now lurked.
Prior to the general introduction of schnorkel in the summer of 1944, only the
boldest of U-boat “aces” dared to traverse these in-shore waters where their chances of
escaping unscathed were slim indeed. Schnorkel revolutionized the tactical grounds on
which the submarine war was fought. Operating often in defiance of Allied air power, it
threatened one of the pillars on which ascendency over the Nazi underwater fleet had
been built. Between the 18 th and 28 th December 1944, two enterprising U-boat captains
patrolling in the English Channel, sank eight ships – a small number in comparison with
the vast volume of shipping which now ploughed the convoy lanes in support of the
advancing armies of liberation, but what was disquieting was the fact that they escaped
to tell of their success. Their immunity to air and surface attack aided by the difficult
asdic conditions prevalent in in-shore waters, the U-boats, on the eve of the Allied
victory in Europe, were enjoying their greatest successes since the brisk spring of 1943.

After a busy winter on close escort duty, IROQUOIS spent a short period boiler
cleaning at Plymouth early in March 1945. On 16 March she departed for Scapa Flow
to take part in a series of operations with units of the Home Fleet.
IROQUOIS sailed from Scapa for the first of these operations (“Cupola”), on 19
March, as part of Force One 22 detailed to lay mines in the narrow waters off Granesund
on the coast of Norway. The operation was successfully carried out on the 20 th under
excellent weather conditions and without enemy opposition. The destroyers saw no
action and remained throughout in company with the heavy units standing about a
hundred miles out to sea beyond the enemy’s own mine barrier.
Four days later, on 24 March, IROQUOIS set out again from her base at Scapa,
this time as part of Force Two. 23 The operation 24 was planned as an air strike against
enemy shipping in the Trondheim leads, but, not finding any worth-while targets on the
morning of 26 March, the bomb-carrying Avengers attacked radar and other important
installations along the channels. On the morning of the 28 th a second strike was flown
off against several enemy merchant ships, two of them being set on fire. Although the
surface forces saw no action, three ME 109’s were destroyed in combat and one Allied
Barracuda aircraft was lost. 25
IROQUOIS, in company with the RN destroyers Onslow, (Senior Officer),
Zealous and Zest took part in a surface ship action (Operation “Foxchase”), against
shipping off the Norwegian coast 26 on 4 April 1945. At 0011 four medium-sized
merchant vessels, accompanied by three escort vessels, were engaged in a vigorous
exchange of gun-fire. All the destroyers scored hits on the convoy which promptly
altered course and made for shore. Unfortunately, the Senior Officer, believing that the
danger from E-boats and submarines in the vicinity (IROQUOIS reported two on the
surface at 0035) made the battle area too hot for the destroyers, gave orders to
withdraw to seaward. Intelligence reports later revealed, to the disappointment of the
Force, that no enemy ships had been sunk and none seriously damaged.
IROQUOIS’ next assignment (Operation “Roundel”) took her back to the familiar
convoy route to North Russia. With her sister Tribals HAIDA and HURON, IROQUOIS
formed part of a heavy force 27 detailed to escort JW-66 28 to Kola Inlet.
Although the inevitable surrender of German forces was now, after six years of
bitter conflict, close at hand, and everywhere in Europe Nazi strength was shrinking to
the battleground around Berlin, at sea, the enemy’s submarine flotillas still fought with
much of their old skill and daring. On 22 April 1945, three days before the destroyers
shepherded JW-66 safely into the anchorage at Vaenga Bay, two merchant ships had
been torpedoed and sunk close by the mouth of Kola Inlet. So it was that to the last day
of the war, 29 merchant ships had still to move in convoy and in the waters off Russia and
Norway the danger from U-boats remained as acute as ever.
Considerable enemy activity enlivened IROQUOIS’ return passage to Britain with
convoy RA-66. Shortly before the convoy departed (midnight on 29 April), frigates of

the Royal Navy 19 th Escort Group succeeded in destroying two U-boats, U-307 and U-
286, in the approaches to Kola Inlet. In retaliation, the enemy claimed one of the
Group’s frigates, HMS Goodall. Although RA-66 passed through the danger area
without loss, the going was hard, and both HAIDA and IROQUOIS reported “near
misses” by torpedoes. It was to be the last chance the enemy was to have at the
Canadian Tribals. The convoy arrived without loss at the Clyde, 8 May 1945, in time to
celebrate the Allied victory in Europe.
Only the fighting was over; much work remained to be done. On 9 May,
IROQUOIS was ordered to Rosyth where she formed part of the destroyer screen for
the British Force proceeding to Oslo, returning Crown Prince Olaf, after years of exile, to
his capital. Having completed this operation, IROQUOIS steamed for Copenhagen
where she joined the British cruisers Devonshire and Dido and the RN destroyer
Savage. On 24 May she sailed, as part of this force, to escort the German cruisers
Prinz Eugen and Nurnberg to Wilhelmshaven where they were to await their disposal by
the Allies.
For Canada’s Tribals, the job in European waters was drawing to a close. On 4
June 1945, HAIDA, HURON and IROQUOIS, in company, shaped course for Halifax.
Here the ship was to be taken in hand for tropicalization prior to her departure for the
Pacific where she was slated to join the British Fleet in the war against Japan.
IROQUOIS arrived in harbour on 10 June and two weeks later went into refit.
However, before this was completed, the Japanese surrender on the 14 th of August
brought the war in the Far East to an end.
Her refit complete by the middle of December 1945, IROQUOIS was allocated to
the Reserve Fleet early in the New Year. 30 She was paid off 22 February.
In three months time, on 27 May 1946, IROQUOIS recommissioned as Depot
Ship for the Reserve Fleet (East Coast), taking over the duties of Senior Officer Ships in
Reserve from HMCS QU’APPELLE whose crew transferred to IROQUOIS. Routine
care and maintenance on the destroyers in reserve was carried out by IROQUOIS’
company; all other maintenance was conducted by Reserve Fleet personnel borne in
the establishment ashore, HMCS SCOTIAN.
Throughout the winter of 1946-47, the three Tribals, HAIDA, HURON and
IROQUOIS, each a veteran of many gallant exploits in European waters, remained
secured alongside “jetty zero” in the sheltered waters of Halifax harbour.
In February 1947 when SCOTIAN was paid off as the administrative and
accounting authority for the Reserve Fleet IROQUOIS took over her duties, and the staff
of the Senior Officer Ships in Reserve (SOSR) transferred to IROQUOIS.
During the summer of 1947 the former Nazi U-boat, U-190, 31 having spent a brief
period in commission as an RCN submarine, was allocated to the Reserve Fleet under

the control of IROQUOIS while awaiting her final demise by RCN forces on 21 October
1947.
In November 1947, IROQUOIS was taken in hand for a series of refits, which
were not completed until a year and half later.
On 24 June 1949 IROQUOIS advanced from “Reserve” to “Operational”
Commission and Reserve Fleet personnel were transferred to HMCS LA HULLOISE
who succeeded her as Depot Ship for the Reserve Fleet.
After a great deal of last-minute bustle and preparation, IROQUOIS put to sea, 9
July 1949, with 101 UNTD cadets 32 borne aboard for training. Throughout July and
August the destroyer cruised along the eastern seaboard, putting in for brief visits at
Provincetown, Mass., New Haven, Conn., Saint John, N.B., and Corner Brook and St.
John’s in Newfoundland. Upon her return to Halifax, IROQUOIS was paid off into
Reserve Fleet on 3 September 1949.
On 15 June 1950, the program to install anti-submarine weapons in IROQUOIS
was begun. 33 A year and a half later, on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1951, IROQUOIS
recommissioned under Commander W. M. Landymore, RCN.
A word on IROQUOIS’ badge would be in order here. This is founded on the
unofficial one prepared in 1942, which was in turn taken from a painting by the late C.
W. Jefferies. Depicted in gold is the head of an Iroquoian warrior, cut off at the base of
the neck, with the peculiar cock’s-comb “hair-do” and top-knot for scalp removal. There
is war-paint on the face, two eagle feathers in the hair and a gold ring pendant from the
ear.
Ship’s colours are black and gold. The motto, approved in August 1957, reads:
“Relentless in Chase”.
After an inspection by Rear-Admiral DeWolf who visited the ship to view her new
weapons, IROQUOIS steamed out to sea, 13 January 1952 for full power trials. On the
28 th she was sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, where she came under the operational control of
Commander Operational Development Force for evaluation trials.
The first week in February was spent at sea in the approaches to Norfolk carrying
out preliminary exercises. Here, on 6 February, the ship’s company was grieved to
receive the official announcement of the death of their beloved Commander-in-Chief,
His Majesty King George VI. Upon their return to the Norfolk Naval Base, a solemn
memorial service was held to honour the memory of the late Monarch.
On completion of her trials on 13 March IROQUOIS received the following
message from the American Commander in charge of her operational development:

“Congratulations on expeditious completion of trials.
Your efficient execution of all tasks and hearty
cooperation greatly admired. COMOPDEVFOR
appreciates opportunity to be shipmates with such a
fine Command.”
IROQUOIS returned to Halifax on 15 March and shipyard workers took her in
hand for final preparations prior to her departure to join the RCN forces in Korean
waters. Until the 5 th of April 1952 the destroyer was hauled out on the Dartmouth slip for
hull repairs, bottom cleaning and painting. Throughout the next two weeks the ship was
stored and ammunitioned. On 17 April IROQUOIS went to sea, flying the flag of Rear-
Admiral R. E. S. Bidwell, CBE, CD, RCN, for a day of full calibre firings. On 21 April,
having been assigned to the RCN Special Force, IROQUOIS was sailed for Korea. The
destroyer passed through the Panama Canal on 30 April and arrived Sasebo, Japan, by
way of Pearl Harbor, on 12 June 1952.
When IROQUOIS arrived in the operational area a few days later, the war in
Korea was already two years old. For the past twelve months, since July 1951,
attempts to reach a truce negotiation had been underway; unfortunately, with scant
success. If any anxiety was felt throughout the ship that they might not be in time to
“fire a gun in anger”, they could take some comfort from the knowledge that HMCS
CAYUGA, whom they were relieving in Korea, had felt the same misapprehension a
year earlier when she arrived in the area. However, even for those who wished that it
would, the war was not to be brought to an end for yet another year.
True, the bitterly fought see-saw operations, in which spectacular advances were
followed by staggering withdrawals, as first the Communists, then the United Nations
forces, parried for position in the nightmare struggle of advance and retreat, belonged to
the past. By July 1951, when the peace talks first began at Kaesong, the major battles
had been fought, the heaviest casualties suffered, the majority of the incredible number
of prisoners taken. Entrenched along the 38 th parallel, the armies faced each other
across the “no man’s land” of the buffer zone, each side ruthlessly defending his
position, cautiously probing for weak spots in the other’s defences.
From July 1951, until the armistice was signed on the 27 th of July 1953, the
military situation generally remained static. The bored reflection, “war is mainly waiting”,
was never more truly borne out than by these two years on the battleground of Korea as
the armies dug in to hold and survive while the seemingly endless “peace talks”
dragged on in the tents at Panmunjom. Savage outbursts of local activity flared up from
time to time as a rugged hill-side or a barren ridge became the object of dispute; and
men died, or were taken prisoner, or endured, as through two long years the “waiting
war” went on.
For the United Nations naval forces, the war was settling into a routine of
vigilance and blockade. The heavy naval bombardment in support of the UN forces
backed up at Pusan, the daring and spectacular amphibious landings at Inchon, the

assault at Wonsam, all belonged to the action-filled first year of the war in Korea; each
had taken its place beside the great “combined operations” of history.
After 1951 the Canadian destroyers in the Far East were committed to the task of
maintaining the UN’s “iron ring” about Korea. Primarily the naval task was a blockading
one. Local operations involved breaking up the enemy’s coast-wise traffic, the defence
of the friendly west coast islands, and the bombardment of rail installations which
skirted the foot of the cliff-bound east coast. Not a small part of the duty of RCN
destroyers was the screening of aircraft carriers for the telling strikes which were made
against enemy troop concentrations, supply dumps, bridges and other vital installations.
The monotonous task of screening duty, however, was frequently enlivened by orders to
proceed close in shore to bombard enemy shore positions or to assist guerilla forces in
landings along the shore or on outlying islands in order to gather intelligence and take
prisoners.
IROQUOIS’ first tour of duty in Korean waters lasted for five months and during
this period the destroyer, back in an active war zone for the first time in seven years,
and her first taste of fighting in the Pacific, was to carry out a varied program of
activities.
On 20 June 1952, she took over from ATHABASKAN, who was preparing to sail
home to Canada, the duties of Commander, Canadian Destroyers Far East. Her first
operational assignment, screening the American carrier USS Bataan, took her on 23
June up the west coast of Korea to the area of the hotly contested 38 th parallel.
Teaming up with HM Cruiser Ceylon and HM Frigate Amethyst, she made an attack on
the southern tip of Ongjin Peninsula. British planes, acting as spotters, directed fire on
the coastal defences in the approaches to Haeju and also called for fire on troops
digging in behind the coast. Enemy guns, on attempting to return the fire, were quickly
silenced by the concerted attack of the three warships. Every third night IROQUOIS
was detached to carry out in-shore patrols in the Paengyong Do 34 area under CTE
95.12, 35 HMS Belfast. While operating with IROQUOIS in the vicinity of the island of
Chodo on 5 August the British cruiser, veteran of many epic sea battles in the Second
World War, sustained a direct hit from an enemy shore battery.
After a period at Kure, Japan, for maintenance, IROQUOIS returned to the
operational area in the vicinity of Haeju on 30 August as Commander Task Unit 95.12.4.
On arrival off the peninsula north of Mu-Do a heavy bombardment of enemy positions
was carried out using shore fire control spotting teams and air spots from HMS Ocean.
The results, recorded IROQUOIS’ Commanding Officer, were “excellent”.
On the night of 3 September a tropical storm – “Mary” – moved into the area,
forcing the destroyer to withdraw to seaward. Apparently IROQUOIS found the China
Seas typhoon kinder than the winter waters off Scapa Flow for she rode out the storm
unscathed.

The following week, on 10 September, IROQUOIS together with the American
carrier Sicily took part in Operation “Siciro”, the code name being compounded from the
two warships’ names. “Siciro” was designed as an assault by three Wolf-pack
companies 36 against a point on the Peninsula of Chomi Do in the Bay of Haeju. The
guerilla forces, about 350 strong, were led by US army officers and NCO’s. The Wolf
packs pushed off from the island of Yongmae Do at 0100 on the 10 th . While the
assaulting forces borne in junks, some steam, some sail, were making the three-mile
passage across the mud flats to their objective, IROQUOIS’ gun-fire softened up the
edges of the peninsula. The British cruiser Belfast made a timely appearance in the
Haeju area and her offer to assist in the operation was not refused. IROQUOIS’
Commanding Officer described the 90-minute naval bombardment as a “battle of wits
between the Ships’ Gunnery Officers who wished to have a reasonable ammunition
expenditure and the spotter who was determined to empty our magazines as rapidly as
possible. A reasonable compromise was achieved and both the spotter and the ships
were satisfied with the outcome”. Sicily’s aircraft arrived at 0620 to lend effective
support to the withdrawal of the Wolf-pack forces, and by 0830 the junks, with the
assaulting force intact, were on the return journey to Yongmae Do. Enemy casualties
were reported later to be close to 400. Several gun positions had been destroyed and
three agents who had been in enemy hands were recovered and brought back. Four
South Korean Guerillas suffered light wounds. IROQUOIS’ Commanding Officer
summed up the venture with these words:

“One would have thought that “Siciro” carried out in
full moonlight, with uncertain water transport, with
semi-trained troops, led by officers who gave their
orders through interpreters and with a rather fuzzy
aim was doomed to failure from the start.
Astonishingly enough, almost everything happened
according to the plan and it turned out to be a
modest success.”
On 28 September IROQUOIS sailed from Sasebo for Yang Do far up the east
coast of Korea where she relieved HMS Charity on the 29 September. In the situation
report turned over to IROQUOIS, Charity had commented: “I had no hesitation
anchoring day and night when at Yang Do – this has been going on for fifteen months. I
don’t know how long the enemy will allow it to go on for.” The answer, IROQUOIS soon
found out, was “fifteen minutes”. No sooner had Charity weighed and proceeded than
the anchorage came under fire. The nearest shells missed IROQUOIS by some 400
yards, but the incident heralded the active days to come.
North Korea’s rail system ran north and south along the east coast of the
peninsula and it was in these waters that Canadian destroyers gained fame as ace
members of the “Train Busters Club”. Unfortunately, during IROQUOIS’ first operational
assignment in the area, she was to suffer the only RCN casualties of the Korean war.

During her patrol Charity had stopped a train by gun-fire at the coast’s edge, just
south-west of Sonjin. The line had been blocked for several days, and faced with
feverish attempts by the enemy to clear it, UN naval vessels were detailed in shore to
see that it remained blocked.
On the 2 nd of October, IROQUOIS, together with the American destroyer Marsh,
carried out a successful bombardment of the area. As the two ships turned to seaward
at the close of the engagement, shore batteries opened fire and shortly afterwards a full
salvo bracketed IROQUOIS. Despite her evasive tactics and an attempt to clear the
area at high speed, IROQUOIS sustained a direct hit in “B” gun position. The
destroyer’s guns replied and the shore battery was soon effectively silenced. Aboard
IROQUOIS, one officer and one seaman had been killed instantly. A second rating,
critically injured, died a few hours later. Ten other men were wounded. Her fighting
efficiency, however, was in no way impaired, and the destroyer, having transferred her
dead and wounded to USS Chemung, an American supply ship carrying a surgical
team, returned to complete her patrol in the area.
On the morning of 8 October, with a guard of honour drawn from HMCS
CRUSADER, Lieutenant-Commander John L. Quinn, Able Seamen A. E. Baikie and W.
M. Burden were buried with full naval honours in the British Commonwealth Cemetery
at Yokohama, Japan. At the same time, aboard IROQUOIS, ten miles to seaward of
where the action had taken place, Commander Landymore led a simple memorial
service in tribute to the fallen shipmates.
Back at the rail block on 9 October IROQUOIS carried out interdiction fire and
routine patrols until she was relieved by HMCS CRUSADER on 14 October when she
set course for Sasebo. During her brief period in dry dock the ship’s company was
inspected by Admiral Sir Rhoderick R. McGrigor, KCB, CBE, DSO, RN. IROQUOIS
undocked on 22 October and sailed for a week’s operations off the west coast of Korea.
On 1 November IROQUOIS was sailed in company with the RN carrier Ocean for
Hong Kong. On the morning of 4 November while the British carriers Ocean and Glory
combined for exercises to test the defences of Hong Kong, IROQUOIS acted as plane
guard for the operation. On the 9 th November, IROQUOIS represented the RCN at a
Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph and on the 11 th the ship’s company
paraded to the Military Cemetery for a purely Canadian Armistice Day Service. A
wreath was laid on the grave of an unknown Canadian soldier. At noon the following
day, IROQUOIS set course to return to the operational area. While on passage in the
Formosa Straits typhoon “Bess” overtook the destroyer and for three days and nights
she battled the storm. On the 16 th the veteran destroyer limped into Sasebo, badly
shaken up, but with no serious damage. Back with the west coast blockading forces on
the 19 th , IROQUOIS carried out bombardments against gun emplacements, observation
posts and cave positions with good results before returning to Sasebo on the 22 nd . Here
the ship was stored and final preparations made for the voyage home. IROQUOIS had
completed her first tour of duty in the Korean theatre. After a farewell visit from Rear-
Admiral E. G. A. Clifford, RN, IROQUOIS sailed from Sasebo on 26 November, bound

for her home port of Halifax via Pearl Harbor. As the ship would be at sea on Christmas
Day, the destroyer put into Esquimalt for a short stop-over on 16 December and half of
the ship’s company were granted leave which enabled them to be “home for Christmas”.
Leaving the west coast port on 20 December, IROQUOIS steamed south to Manzanillo,
Mexico, where she arrived on 27 December. After passing through the Panama Canal
on 2 January, IROQUOIS reached Halifax by way of Bermuda on 8 January. Here she
secured at the familiar “jetty zero” to undergo refit.
Three months later, on 29 April, 1953 IROQUOIS, in company with HMCS
HURON, was sailed for Kingston, Jamaica, the first leg of her return passage to the Far
East. The voyage was made uneventfully except for some engine-room difficulties
experienced by both Tribals off the west coast of Mexico. The trouble was eliminated in
IROQUOIS when fourteen buckets of shrimps were removed from her condensers.
IROQUOIS arrived at Sasebo on the 18 th of June. The peace talks, which had
dragged on interminably for almost two years, seemed now, at last, to be approaching
an armistice agreement. Unfortunately, the “release” of 25,000 North Korean anti-
communist prisoners of war on 18 June stimulated fresh outbursts of activity along the
eastern and central sectors of the front and with peace talks once again suspended, the
long-awaited truce agreement was postponed another five weeks.
On 19 June IROQUOIS sailed for the operational area and on reaching the
vicinity of Chodo, 22 June, took over the command of Task Unit 95.1.4 from HMS
Modeste. However, affairs on her west coast patrol were unusually quiet and the
destroyer, relieved by HMS Cockade on 27 June sailed for a courtesy visit to Tokyo
where the ship’s company enjoyed a lavish program of entertainment and hospitality.
Officers and men rose gallantly to several “unorthodox” occasions and the Commanding
Officer noted with pride that his officers, guests at one of the many official dinners,
“conducted themselves agreeably in spite of the shock of finding fisheyes in the
soup….”
IROQUOIS returned to the operational area 6 July when she joined the screen of
the American carrier Bairoko. On the 14 th IROQUOIS was detached to relieve HMS
Charity in the familiar Haeju area. Heavy fog necessitated a cancellation of all
bombardment plans and on the 19 th IROQUOIS, relieved by HMCS ATHABASKAN,
returned to Sasebo, where she secured alongside the destroyer depot ship HMS Tyne.
At 1000, on 27 July 1953, the Korean Armistice was signed 37 and at 2200 the
“cease fire” went into effect. For the United Nations ships in the Far East, however, the
job was not yet done.
Patrols continued to be carried out among the islands still under UN control, but
the warships steamed at night with their navigating lights on and their scuttles
undarkened.

In accordance with the armistice some UN-held islands north of the 38 th parallel
had to be evacuated. Cho-do, within eighty miles of the Yalu River on the west coast,
was one of these. IROQUOIS played an important part in the evacuation of this island.
Gear and installations had to be removed and there were twelve elderly persons
remaining there who had previously declined offers to be taken off. Two officers from
the ship went about renewing the offers. Two finally yielded to their urgings and six
weeks supply of food was left for the remaining ten. When the last landing ship tank
was loaded and had withdrawn from the beach, a demolition team of seventeen men
from the destroyer, headed by Lieutenant D. A. Wardrop, RCN, remained behind with a
similar group of US Air Force personnel,to blow up a few remaining installations. They
completed their work at 0500 on 1 August and the island was declared evacuated. 38
IROQUOIS remained in the area until the ten-day period allowed for adjustments
to the “cease fire” line had elapsed. On 6 August she assumed command of Task Unit
95.1.2. This truly international group of warships embodied a New Zealand frigate, an
Australian frigate, a Dutch frigate, several American minesweepers, a South Korean
patrol craft and a Royal Navy fleet auxiliary – a heterogeneous naval force which
provided, observed IROQUOIS’ Commanding Officer, “an almost continuous
pantomime on the Radio Telephone”.
Relieved by HMS Crane on the 14 th , IROQUOIS returned to Sasebo. During the
“uneasy truce” conditions which prevailed throughout the next eighteen months, when
the volatile prisoner-of-war question remained an explosive issue to threaten the
delicate balance of international relations in the Far East, IROQUOIS, and the other
Canadian destroyers who followed her, carried out peaceful patrols in Korean waters
with a view to ensuring that the conditions of the armistice agreement were adhered to.
As a training ground, IROQUOIS’ “tours of ops” in the Korean theatre proved
particularly valuable and, as with the other RCN destroyers in Korea, her fighting
efficiency showed a marked improvement in proportion to the amount of time spent in
the Far East. Several factors contributed to make this so. For one, the waters on
Korea’s west coast presented some of the most difficult navigational hazards to be
found anywhere in the world. Added to the maze of islands which dot the coast, are the
challenges of shifting mud flats and a tide that rises and falls 31 feet. Also the
opportunities presented for exercises with other navies of the United Nations provided
many invaluable lessons in group operations.
In October 1953 IROQUOIS left the operational area for Hong Kong where she
underwent her semi-annual docking. Here, at the Tai Koo docks, on 1 November,
Captain Landymore turned over command of IROQUOIS to his Executive Officer,
Lieutenant-Commander S. G. Moore, CD, RCN.
The destroyer returned to Sasebo 26 November and the following week
participated in exercises with HURON, CRUSADER, HMAS Tobruk and HMS Comus.
Towards the middle of December, IROQUOIS returned for a week’s patrol in the

Paengyang Do area where the Commanding Officer assumed the duties of Commander
Paengyang Do Island Naval Defence Unit.
Back at Sasebo at year’s end, IROQUOIS was relieved by HMCS CAYUGA 1
January 1954 and sailed the same day for Hong Kong, the first stop on her return
voyage to Canada. Prior to her departure the destroyer received a fine tribute from
Vice-Admiral R. P. Briscoe, USN, Commander of the United Nations Naval Forces in
the Far East:

“By your excellent performance in all tasks assigned,
you proved yourself a worthy and valuable member
of our naval team in the West Pacific. You are a
credit to your flag, your navy and to the United
Nations. Well done and sincere best wishes.”
On her homeward voyage, IROQUOIS called at Singapore, Colombo, Gibraltar
and Ponta Delgada in the Azores. Voyaging by way of the Suez Canal and the
Mediterranean she completed her first circumnavigation of the globe when she arrived
at Halifax on the morning of 10 February. 39
On 23 March 1954 command of the destroyer passed to Commander M. F.
Oliver, CD, RCN. By the end of May her refit was completed and the Tribal put to sea
for trials on the first of June. Rear-Admiral R. E. S. Bidwell, CBE, CD, RCN, informally
walked around the ship on 11 June and addressed the ship’s company. During the
evening of the 11 th , the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant-General G. G. Simonds,
CB, CBE, DSO, CD, the Quarter-Master General, Major-General S. F. Clark, CBE, CD,
and the General Officer Commanding Eastern Command, Major-General E. C. Plow,
CBE, DSO, CD, were received on board for passage to St. John’s Newfoundland where
the CGS was to inspect the Newfoundland area of the Eastern Command. At the
instant of embarkation the GOC’s flag, suitably illuminated, was broken at the fore, for, it
is believed, the first time in Canadian naval history. 40
During the return passage on 15 June, IROQUOIS received a message from
CANFLAGLANT at sea in HMCS QUEBEC, indicating that should IROQUOIS
encounter the cruiser on passage an “attack” by torpedo was to be made. At 1930 a
white puff of smoke from QUEBEC was sighted at a radar range of 23.5 miles. Speed
was increased to 28 knots and the Generals repaired to the upper deck to watch the
fun.

“With the flag of G.O.C. flying at the fore, IROQUOIS
went into attack, being bracketed by star shell as she
did so. Torpedoes were ‘fired’ at a range of 3000
yards and had not IROQUOIS already been declared
‘sunk’ by Canflaglant, I feel sure that the attack would
have been successful.” 41

On arrival back at Halifax the destroyer was ammunitioned in preparation for her
return to the Far East to relieve HMC Destroyer CRUSADER. She set sail on 1 July
1954.
Four days after her arrival at Sasebo, 22 August, IROQUOIS was sailed for
Paengyong Do where Commander Oliver assumed the duties of CTG 95.1.2.
IROQUOIS’ first mission in the operational area was the rescue of a Korean fisherman
sighted on the morning of 27 August hanging on to a piece of wreckage from his craft
demolished during the previous day’s storm. Seven others of his crew had perished.
The Tribal’s third tour of duty in the Korean theatre followed a pattern similar to
her previous ones, although the weather seemed bent on exceeding itself in the number
and velocity of typhoons for which the area is renowned. Between September and
November 1954, IROQUOIS tangled with “June”, “Kathie”, “Lorna”, “Marie”, “Pamela”,
and “Ruby” – a succession of “femmes fatales” calculated to make even a seasoned
sailor’s hair stand on end.
When the fighting in Korea ceased, one of the urgent problems which gripped the
sympathy of many was the plight of the civilian population who inherited the tragic
aftermath of war. While the problem was handled on a large scale by the United
Nations Korean Relief Fund, most Canadian destroyers chose to express their concern
on a more personal level. On 1 December, as the first snowfall of winter swept in on
blustery winds from the north, the Commanding Officer of IROQUOIS with one of his
officers put ashore for Sochang Do, a barren island off the west coast of Korea, with a
large bundle of clothing donated by the ship’s company and purchased in Hong Kong.
In Korea, it is also customary to exchange gifts during the Christmas season, and the
villagers were eager to express their gratitude. Four live hens were proudly presented
to IROQUOIS’ company. “Oddly enough”, commented IROQUOIS’ captain, ‘the men
would have nothing to do with either killing them or eating them, so the Wardroom took
over and found them, cooked Chinese style, quite tasty.”
On 2 December on the arrival of the Netherlands frigate Van Zijll in the area,
IROQUOIS in company with HMCS HURON, weighed and proceeded from the Korean
islands for the last time. Both destroyers shaped course for Okinawa where they
participated in large-scale “Hunter-Killer” exercises with the American carrier Princeton,
seven US destroyers and the US Submarine Carp. At the conclusion of the very
valuable training exercise, a plaque, mounted with the badges of HURON and
IROQUOIS, was presented to the Rear-Admiral W. F. Rodee, USN, aboard Princeton.
After a pleasant Christmas Day spent at Sasebo, IROQUOIS departed the
following day for the passage home, a long and colourful voyage which included visits to
Colombo, Cochin, Bombay, Karachi and the gallant island of Malta in the
Mediterranean.
IROQUOIS, in company with HURON, arrived off Halifax in the morning of 19
March 1955 and was met in the harbour approaches by the Flag Officer Atlantic Coast,

Rear-Admiral R. E. S. Bidwell, in HSL 208, 42 who preceded the tribals into port. Once
alongside, the ship entered a five-week leave and maintenance period. Minor repairs to
the machinery were begun as well as a small amount of work on the hull. During the
period, fourteen days’ special leave, with added travelling time, was granted to each
watch.
IROQUOIS proceeded to Bermuda in May 1955. There, she was ordered to join
and escort HMC Destroyer NOOTKA who, while in collision with the South Breakwater,
Ireland Island, had damaged her bow. IROQUOIS floated four-by-four foot shoring to
her and remained with her until relieved by HMC Frigate TORONTO.
In May also there was a UNTD southern cruise. With cadets embarked for
training purposes, the cruisers QUEBEC and ONTARIO and the destroyers HURON
and IROQUOIS left Halifax on the 19 th . Visited during May and June were Fort Pond
Bay, Long Island; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Little Carrot
Bay, Tortola. A highlight in June was a night encounter exercise. Early one evening,
the group weighed and proceeded to take up strategic positions. QUEBEC then
attempted to break through the cluster of small islands in the vicinity of Tortola and
reach the island of St. Croix to establish a wireless station on one of the islands en
route. A “hide-and-go-seek” game developed, followed by a chase at twenty-five knots,
which ended in the theoretical torpedoing and destruction of QUEBEC.
A similar cruise in July 1955 took the ship to Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia; St.
Andrew, New Brunswick; Eastport, Maine; and Argentia, Newfoundland. IROQUOIS
spent five days in the last-named port. On departing, she suffered a flash-back fire in
No. 2 Boiler Room due to the blowing out of two fire row tubes. The fire was soon
extinguished. The ship rejoined the group to visit Charlottetown, P.E.I.; Boston Mass.;
and Mahone Bay, N.S. before returning to Halifax.
On 8 August 1955, the First Canadian Destroyer Squadron was formed and
IROQUOIS became one of its members. However, because of her accident, only two of
her boilers could be steamed, and it was deemed unwise to sail her to take part in a
forthcoming NATO exercise. Because at the time 63% of her ship’s company had come
aboard within the previous three months and were hence in need of training, it seemed
to be fitting under the circumstances to ask permission to proceed on a “shake-down”
cruise to Bermuda. The request was granted.
The ship sailed on the 19 th . The next day a thick fog was followed by a violent
electrical storm. Large balls of St. Elmo’s fire formed at the tips of the whip aerials so
that the ship resembled a “Chinese procession”. The electrical storm was the precursor
of a gale which lasted for twenty-four hours. The wind blew from the south-west and
there were gusts up to seventy knots. A short and very heavy swell from the same
direction added to difficulties.
During the afternoon the wind, which had slowly veered, commenced to die
fitfully. The sea became confused. At 1637, a gigantic wave arose from the depths

alongside and broke over the starboard side. This wave was out of sequence with
those rolling toward the ship. It gave no warning. Catching the destroyer at the end of
a fifteen degree roll to starboard, it struck almost broadside on, forcing her over forty
degrees to port as measured by clinometer.
The chair on which the Commanding Officer sat, tipped over with the violent
movement of the ship, the legs broke and he fell on the top of the standard compass.
After he had got to his feet somewhat painfully, he found that the wave had sheared the
whaler’s davits off clean at deck level and that they and what remained of the whaler
were lying against the torpedo tubes. The wave had also stove in the starboard side of
No. 1 motor cutter and forced the griping pads through the port side. Minor damage
was suffered by the starboard No. 1 Boffin, the loading platform having been bent and
the cart-wheel sight crumpled like a sheet of paper. Other minor damage was incurred
in many places, there being twenty-nine work orders raised eventually upon hull items
alone.
This wave was later likened by Rear-Admiral Bidwell to the one which, in January
1943, smashed the bridge of HM Destroyer Roxborough and killed the Commanding
Officer, the First Lieutenant and a rating.
IROQUOIS had to cancel the voyage to Bermuda and turn back to Halifax. The
following month she was able to take part in the anti-submarine, “hunter-killer” exercise
known as “New Broom IV”. In October 1955, she began a refit.
On 19 December 1955, the First Canadian Escort Squadron was formed with
HMC Destroyer Escort ALGONQUIN becoming Senior Officer (CANCOMCORTRON 1)
and IROQUOIS a member. At the end of the month the ship joined other members to
secure alongside Jetty #5 in the Halifax Dockyard, but the Commanding Officer did not
think that IROQUIOIS’ appearance did credit to the rest, since she was still without
funnels and generally seemed to be suffering from “an advanced state of leprosy”.
On the 25 th of the following month, steam was finally got up in one of the boilers.
The ship got to sea on 16 February 1956. Trials showed up defects in newly installed
electronic equipment. She was making her way back to the Dockyard three days later,
when a storm came up. The wind blew steadily at fifty knots, gusting at about eighty.
Weakness now appeared in one section of the hull, and damage was caused to the new
asdic dome, the front panel of which was split horizontally in four places.
In March 1956, IROQUOIS steamed to southern waters, in the wake of other
members of the Squadron who had preceded her. She visited Trinidad, Barbados and
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. In South-West Roads, St. Thomas, she took part in a
convoy exercise and an anti-raider action. The fleet of ships taking part was said to be
one of the largest operational RCN units assembled up to that time.
Following the exercises, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Miami, Florida; and Norfolk,
Virginia, were visited. Miami was found by the Commanding Officer to be “the best

leave port I have ever visited”. Its only disadvantage was its restricted harbour which
had only six wharves to cope with the heavy traffic.
On 22 May 1956, IROQUOIS steamed up the St. Lawrence River in company
with HAIDA and ALGONQUIN. While in Montreal in June the ship embarked some
seventy members of the Naval Officers’ Associations for a three-hour voyage along the
water-front. During the cruise, the ship was accompanied by millions of shad-flies,
“frantically annoying insects” which “made it next to impossible to speak on the bridge,
except in dire emergency, unless one were willing to spend some time cleaning them
out of one’s mouth”.
Quebec City was popular with the ship’s company and a wonderful reception was
found awaiting all in Trois-Rivieres. The Commanding Officer was told that this was the
first time the town had been visited by an RCN vessel. One of the town councillors
noted that “the last time the Iroquois visited Trois-Rivieres, two hundred people were
killed”. 43 From here, the ship went on to call at Sept-Iles, Quebec; Corner Brook,
Newfoundland; and Pictou, N.S.
Exercises followed during the summer months. On 19 September 1956, the ship
left with HURON and MICMAC on the first leg of a fall cruise to European ports. Ponta
Delgada in the Azores was the first landfall. Here they were boarded by two barbers
who cut hair at 50 cents the head at an average rate of speed of one customer each two
and a half minutes. The Commanding Officer’s position brought him special
consideration: his hair cut lasted for four minutes and at no extra charge. Observing
that the average daily wage in the Azores was calculated at something like 32 cents,
there was no doubt that the barbers must have left, temporarily at least, wealthy men.
The destroyers reached the Irish Sea and found it stormy. In Dublin Bay a pilot
boarded IROQUOIS in a full gale. Happily the city made up for the weather by a warm
welcome.
Moving northward in October 1956, the ships proceeded up the River Foyle to
Londonderry. During exercises out from this port on the 10 th , a Neptune aircraft was lost
with its entire crew of nine.
Bangor, Belfast and Southampton were visited. On 1 November 1956,
IROQUOIS and MICMAC detached from the First Canadian Escort Squadron with
whom they had been in company, to enter Lorient, France. After an interesting visit in
this city they went on to Lisbon. The squadron was back in Halifax on the 21 st .
A spring cruise began in February 1957. The rest of the Squadron left ahead of
IROQUOIS who was suffering from underwater defects. She sailed to overtake the
others on the 19 th , at a point just north-west of San Juan.
In the following month there were exercises in South-West Roads, St. Thomas.
With the arrival in San Juan on the 15 th , of CRUSADER, wearing the flag of Rear-

Admiral Bidwell, nine destroyers were present. Along with the submarine, HMS
Alliance, they made an impressive sight.
On the 18 th , the Canadian destroyers steamed out for an exercise with the Dutch
cruiser, De Zeven Provincien, who represented a hostile raider attempting to engage an
important convoy. Following exercises, IROQUOIS proceeded in company with
HURON to Port of Spain, Trinidad; Great Courland Bay, Tobago; St. Johns, Antigua and
Willemstad, Curacao. In Willemstad there was found to exist a Committee for the
Entertainment of Visiting Warships, which was formed of representatives from the
Government, the Navy and all the prominent civilian firms and organizations. This
committee saw to it that there was little time that was not occupied by some form of
sport or recreation.
The tribals went on to visit Barranquilla, some twelve miles up the Magdalena
River in Colombia; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There were more exercises off
Bermuda and then the Squadron sailed to Quonset Point, Rhode Island, for preliminary
briefing for the exercise “New Broom VII”.
On 3 May 1957, the First and Third Canadian Escort Squadrons sailed in
company with US Aircraft Carrier Wasp and US Oiler Severn, to carry out the “New
Broom” exercise.
The Squadrons were back in Halifax on the 9 th . At the end of the month
IROQUOIS proceeded to the Gaspe Peninsula. Off the coast she met HURON. The
two tribals steamed up the St. Lawrence River to visit Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres and
Montreal. The anti-submarine exercise, “Coldgulf”, followed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
On 6 September 1957, IROQUOIS proceeded to sea in company with ST.
LAURENT, Commander Task Group 301.4, OTTAWA, SAGUENAY, ASSINIBOINE,
HAIDA, MICMAC and NOOTKA. Next day, this fleet of destroyer escorts joined the
Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic’s force which was moving from bases in the Eastern
United States to Eastern Atlantic waters. IROQUOIS and NOOTKA were assigned to
Commander Anti-Submarine Carrier Group (CTG 201.8), Rear-Admiral Wm Miller,
USN, flying his flag in US Aircraft Carrier Essex. The two Canadian ships thus became
part of Screen Element 201.8.1.3 and, in company with six US destroyers, escorted
Essex across the Atlantic.
Making up this formidable task group were six carriers, including the 60,000-ton
Forrestal and Saratoga; two battleships, the 45,000-ton Iowa and Missouri; three
cruisers, including the guided-missile heavy cruisers, Boston and Canberra, and the
17,000-ton tactical command ship and heavy cruiser, Northampton, flying the flag of
Rear-Admiral M. E. Arnold, USN, Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic; together with over
fifty destroyers.
On 12 September, IROQUOIS and NOOTKA detached for Portland, Dorset.
From the 16 th to 28 th , IROQUOIS took part in the NATO exercise “Stand Firm”, then

proceeded to a berth in Portsmouth. She slipped with OTTAWA on 5 October, course
being set for Ponta Delgada in the Azores. When they left this port on the 8 th , the two
ships proceeded westward through the passage between Pico and San Jorge Islands.
On the 9 th , while passing north of the western tip of Fayal Island, a magnificent view was
had of the new island which a week before had risen from the sea through the agency
of a violent volcanic eruption. IROQUOIS passed about six miles distant and, from her
decks, it appeared that the new island or cone had already reached a diameter of 1000
yards. From the cone lava was being hurled out in eruptions which fired it hundreds of
feet into the sky. When it came back and fell into the sea, clouds of steam rose along
with smoke and dust to lose themselves in the clouds.
On arrival in Halifax, IROQUOIS prepared herself to undergo a refit. It would be
a long one for she was an old ship now and, because she was showing her age,
maintenance had become a major problem. For this reason it was decided to pay her
off on 19 November 1957.
A year had almost rolled by when, on 17 October 1958, HMCS IROQUOIS was
recommissioned at No. 2 Jetty in HMC Dockyard, Halifax. There was cool, clear
weather for the ceremony. Her new Commanding Officer was Commander W. D. F.
Johnston, RCN. Among others present at the ceremony were Rear-Admiral H. F.
Pullen, OBE, CD, RCN, Flag Officer Atlantic Coast, and the Commodore
superintendent, Commodore (E) J. MacGillivary, CD, RCN.
A full-power trial was completed on 24 October in fairly severe conditions.
Accurate fixing was not possible, but it was estimated that a speed of a little more than
twenty-eight knots was achieved with assistance from the weather.
The ship had her working-up exercises in Bermuda in November 1958 when she
sailed to these islands in company with the new destroyer escort, HMCS ST. CROIX,
who had been commissioned on 4 October.
In December, a visit was paid to New London, Connecticut, in company with the
First Canadian Escort Squadron.
IROQUOIS’ shafts and propellers did not prove satisfactory and, in January
1959, she had to have them replaced. During the succeeding winter and spring months
she was engaged primarily in trials and exercises, with visits to Bermuda and Boston.
In July she joined other Canadian destroyer escorts to carry out duties and take part in
ceremonies associated with the opening of the St. Lawerence Seaway by Queen
Elizabeth II and President Eisenhower.
NATO fall exercises in the North Atlantic and the English Channel were the chief
events of 1960. On the ship’s return to Canada she proceeded to Sorel, P.Q., for a refit.
The refit completed in May 1961, she came back down river to Halifax and in the
following month transferred from the First to the Third Canadian Escort Squadron. The

end of that year was marked by exercises taken by her and her squadron in conjunction
with the US Navy off the American seaboard.
Until October 1962 IROQUOIS remained busy with exercises in her squadron.
Then the end came for the veteran. On the 24 th of the month she was paid off to
reserve at Sydney, N.S.
The Navy declared her surplus to requirements. She was handed over to Crown
Assets Disposal Corporation, which, on 11 May 1966, sold her for scrap to the firm of
Hierros Ardes Luis Arbula Arana of Bilbao, Spain.
On a teak plaque, which used to be proudly displayed on her quarterdeck, are
emblazoned the battle honours which she won and which will be borne by any future
HMCS IROQUOIS. They are:

ATLANTIC 1943,
ARCTIC 1943-5,
BISCAY 1943-4,
NORWAY 1945,
KOREA 1952-3.

LIST OF COMMANDING OFFICERS
OF HMCS IROQUOIS

30 November 1942 to Commander W. B. L. Holms, RCN.
29 July 1943
30 July 1943 to Commander J. C. Hibbard, DSC, RCN.
7 February 1945
8 February 1945 to Commander K. F. Adams, RCN.
2 July 1945
3 July 1945 to Commander E. W. Finch-Noyes, RCN.
10 November 1945
11 November 1945 to Lieutenant C. G. Smith, RCN.
30 January 1946
31 January 1946 to Lieutenant A. H. McDonald, RCN.
22 February 1946
27 May 1946 to Lieutenant D. Adamson, RCN(R).
23 December 1946
1 March 1947 to Lieutenant-Commander J. Plomer,
1 June 1947 DSC, RCN.
2 June 1947 to Lieutenant-Commander J. S. Davis,
13 November 1947 RCN.
14 November 1947 to Lieutenant-Commander B. P. Young,
2 May 1949 MBE, RCN.
24 June 1949 to Lieutenant-Commander T. C. Pullen,
30 September 1949 RCN.
21 October 1951 to Commander W. M. Landymore,
31 October 1953 CD, RCN.
1 November 1953 to Lieutenant-Commander S. G. Moore,
22 March 1954 CD, RCN.
23 March 1954 to Commander M. F. Oliver, CD, RCN.
7 August 1955

8 August 1955 to Commander D. L. Hanington,
23 May 1957 DSC, CD, RCN.
24 May 1957 to Lieutenant-Commander M. W. Mayo,
19 November 1957 RCN.
17 October 1958 to Commander W. D. F. Johnston,
7 September 1960 CD, RCN.
8 September 1960 to Commander H. W. Moxley,
19 March 1962 CD, RCN.
20 March 1962 to Captain G. C. Edwards, CD, RCN.
30 September 1962
1 October 1962 to Lieutenant-Commander W. D. Munro,
24 October 1962. CD, RCN.

Directorate of History
Canadian Forces Headquarters
Ottawa
31 January 1972

1 Particulars of the ship are as follows:
Standard Displacement: 1927 tons
Extreme Length: 377’
Extreme Breadth: 37’ 6”
Draught: 9’
Armament: 3 Twin 4.7” guns
1 Twin 4” anti-aircraft gun
1 2-pounder, 4-barrel pom-pom
6 20-mm Oerlikon guns
2 Lewis guns
2 Bren guns
1 Quadruple 21” torpedo tube mounting
2 Depth-charge throwers.

2 Privy Council approval for the construction of the first two Tribals to be built in the United Kingdom was
given 5 April 1940.
3 Interrogation of the six prisoners elicited the following claims of shipping sunk:
First Patrol: None.
Second Patrol: 2 Freighters by torpedo
6 Tankers by torpedo
2 Freighters by gun-fire.

Third Patrol: 5 ships. Survivors of SS Laconia picked up and transferred to French warships.
Fourth Patrol: 2 ships sunk.

(Preliminary Report on Interrogation of Survivors in NHS 1650: U-506.)

4 An area bounded by 48° N, 43° 30’ N, 12° W and 9° W.
5 (Narrative: Draft “A”: Canadian Ships with the Home Fleet, 1943-45).
6 In accordance with the German strategy to allow the first two Russian convoys to pass unmolested in
the hope that defences would be relaxed for the passage of the third when it was planned to send the
battle cruiser Scharnhorst out to destroy it.
7 Eighty RCN sailors were serving at the time in HMS Belfast.
8 The battleship HMS Duke of York, the cruiser HMS Jamaica, the RN destroyers Savage, Scorpion and
Saumarez and the Norwegian destroyer Stord.
9 Captain (D) Plymouth rated IROQUOIS “above average” as a fighting ship.
10 HMS Furious, in 1944 was 27 years old and the oldest operational carrier in the world. She later shook
herself to pieces in a final spasm of high-speed steaming during the winter of 1944-1945. (Quoted in
Tirpitz, by D. Woodward).
11 The possibility that Tirpitz might sally forth was a threat which the Home Fleet had constantly to cope
with until the day of her final destruction in November 1944. Although the German battleship had been
severely crippled during the daring attack by midget submarines in September 1943, the extent of her
repairs was not known, consequently, there was always the need to maintain a sufficient battle force off
the Norwegian coast to deal with such an emergency should it arise. Tirpitz, however, constantly

battered by the RAF, was never to put to sea again. Nonetheless, even riding at anchor in a remote fiord,
many miles from the sea, Tirpitz could continue to exercise her weight on the course of events in far
distant waters and everything that the Admiralty planned in the North Atlantic always had to be executed
with the threat of this “fleet in being” uppermost in mind.
12 Acoustic torpedoes.
13 “Kinetic” was timed to fit in with the Allied drive on the Breton Peninsula and to forestall any attempt by
the Nazi to evacuate ships or essential personnel.
14 The Second and Eleventh Escort Groups; i.e., “support groups”.
15 Weapon for attacking U-boats with ahead-throwing projectiles.
16 (Weekly Intelligence Reports, Naval Intelligence Division, 22 December 1944, Page 2.)
17 From Mauritius Report of Proceedings, 3 September 1944, filed 1926-355 (held in NHS).
18 Mauritius Report of Proceedings dated 11 September 1944, filed 1926-355 (held in NHS).
19 “Sperrbrecher” was the German name given to merchant vessels which had been converted to naval
use for the dual purpose of minesweeping and escort duties.
20 Report by Captain (D) Tenth Destroyer Flotilla, 15 September 1944, filed 1926-355.
21 In the hard-fought battle to free France, the Allied armies were aided not only by the Regular French
Army (the 2 nd Armoured Division of which had been recently landed in Normandy from North Africa and
which played an honourable part in the advance to Paris) but also by the valiant French Underground
who supplied the invading commanders with vital information concerning the local scene and with what
arms could be made available to them harried the German retreat.
22 Force One: The carrier HMS Premier equipped with eight Avenger aircraft who would lay the mines,
the carrier HMS Searcher equipped with twenty Wildcat aircraft who would escort the Avengers, the
carrier HMS Queen, the cruiser HMS Bellona. The destroyer escort was drawn from the 17 th Destroyer
Flotilla: HM Ships Onslow (Senior Officer), Serapis and Zest and the RCN destroyers HAIDA and
IROQUOIS.
23 Force Two: HM Carriers Searcher, Nairana, Queen and Puncher (the latter manned by the RCN); HM
Cruisers Bellona and Dido; HM Destroyers Onslow, Serapis, Carysfort and Zealous, HMC Destroyers
HAIDA and IROQUOIS.
24 Operation “Prefix One” and “Prefix Two”.
25 Weekly Intelligence Report No. 265.
26 Near Lister Light, south of Stavanger.
27 HM Carriers Vindex and Premier, the cruiser Bellona, the RN destroyers Zephyr, Zodiac, Zealous, Zest,
Offa, the Norwegian destroyer Stord and the Canadian destroyers HAIDA, HURON and IROQUOIS. In
addition, the 7 th and 19 th Escort Groups operated independently on anti-submarine sweeps in the danger
area approaching Kola Inlet.
28 Included in the merchant convoy were sixteen Russian submarine chasers.

29 And even for a time afterwards; merchant convoys in the Arctic areas were not discontinued until 28
May 1945.
30 On 1 February 1946.
31 U-190 had torpedoed and sunk HMCS ESQUIMALT on 16 April 1945 in the Approaches to Halifax
harbour.
32 University Naval Training Division cadets.
33 When she emerged a year and a half later, IROQUOIS was equipped to take on anything from surface
vessels, coastal batteries and aircraft to submarines. Having been partially “converted” to an anti-
submarine vessel, she stood half-way between her original status as an offensively-armed destroyer and
the “destroyer-escort” type of anti-submarine vessel.
34 “Do” is the Korean word for “Island”.
35 Commander Task Element 95.12. UN Forces operated under the American Task Force system of
organization.
36 South Korean guerilla forces.
37 This was Korean time, actually 26 July Eastern Daylight Time.
38 (CROWSNEST, September 1953.)
39 IROQUOIS was the third RCN destroyer to sail round the world in the course of her UN duties,
preceded by NOOTKA in 1952 and HAIDA in 1953.
40 According to King’s Regulations, 1939, the flag to be flown aloft by Generals Commanding Stations is
the Union Jack having in the centre a crown-surmounted blue shield bearing the Royal Cypher and
Garland. In this connection it is pointed out Lieutenant-General H. D. G. Crerar, CB, DSO, GOC First
Canadian Army, proceeded to France 18 June 1944 in HMCS ALGONQUIN, and the flag worn on this
occasion was that of GOC’s ashore, i.e. a rectangular flag having three horizontal bars, red-black-red with
a gold maple leaf in the centre.
41 Report of Proceedings, HMCS IROQUOIS, June 1954.
42 High Speed Launch 208.
43 Originally a trading-post, Trois-Rivieres was repeatedly attacked by Iroquois Indians. In 1653, they
nearly succeeded in annihilating its small band of soldiers headed by Governor Du Plessis-Bochard who
lost his life in the fray. (Short and Doughty: CANADA AND ITS PROVINCES. Toronto 1914. Volume XV,